Eric Limer

It's one thing when malware attacks your phone, but it's another when that same malware hops over to your PC and then uses it to listen in on all your conversations on top of just messing with your phone. A newly discovered Android app—one that's in the Google Play store—can do just that. Beware.

The sketchy app, which masquerades as a "cleaner" app called DroidCleaner, was discovered by Kaspersky, and if it infects you, its tendrils will wrap themselves around a seriously impressive number of things. Here's a list of abilities it has just on your phone:

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Sending SMS messages

Enabling Wi-Fi

Gathering information about the device

Opening arbitrary links in a browser

Uploading the SD card's entire contents

Uploading an arbitrary file (or folder) to the master's server

Uploading all SMS messages

Deleting all SMS messages

Uploading all the contacts/photos/coordinates from the device to the master

But that's not where it ends, no no no. When it runs, the app also downloads three files to the root directory of your SD card, and then when your phone gets connected to a computer in USB drive mode, a backdoor runs on your PC. From there it can control your microphone to eavesdrop on you and send the recordings back home to the mothership, but little beyond that. The Windows component of the malware isn't nearly as apt as its Android counterpart.

Fortunately, as Kaspersky notes, AutoRun on external drives should be disabled by default if you're running a relatively current version of Windows. And folks who aren't are this malware's bread and butter. Tech-savvy folks like you, dear reader, are probably not too at risk of being hit with this, but there are plenty of people out there who are right in its sights, and if nothing else, it shows that Android malware is evolving into a scary beast. But if you're careful out there and use your head, you should stay relatively safe. [Kaspersky via The Next Web]